How sweet is this?!
Marysa was just checking her communication and connection with Frankie when Louie decided to join in with them at liberty. 😍
I’ve set her the goal of playing with both horses at liberty together 😉
🐴 Young Horse Livery and Handling 🐴
Are you looking for an environment where your young horse can continue to grow, where they can socialise with and learn from other horses and start their education on the ground?
I have a very rare space for a weanling/yearling to join our herd on a long term basis. I have a small, mixed established herd and plenty of grazing with natural shelter with the additional option of basic handling and pre-saddle training sessions.
What's included?
- 24/7 turnout in a herd
- Twice daily checks, rug changes and distributing feed/hay
- Poo picking
- Field maintenance
- Attendance for all hoof care, vet, body worker etc. appointments
- Small yard area and stables should your horse need additional care due to injury or illness (please note that regular stabling is not on offer)
Additionally, I can offer handling and pre-saddle training sessions to help develop your horses education on the ground and prepare them for ridden life.
Drop me a message if you would like further information! Based near Petworth, West Sussex.
Please note: Hay, feed, hoof care and training sessions are not included in the price and will be charged separately.
Why am I sharing a video of us leading two ponies to the field you ask?
Well, because in the past when it was time to move Frankie and Louie to a different field, chaos would ensue! Both horses would become dysregulated and troublesome to lead and Louie would take matters into his own hands and bolt.
Understandably, this has caused their humans to become quite stressed whenever the time to move fields is approaching!
Having spent some time focusing on building communication, trust and boundaries and putting some basic skills in on the ground, this was their second successful field move and both horses were able to stay calm, connected and regulated 😀
Taking advantage of the last of the evening light, just before clock changes, to squeeze a session in with Maverick but someone else wanted me to pick her instead!
Mav and I were playing with walk/halt transitions on a circle last week, I’m teaching downwards transitions from a breath as well as a whistle to stop as an emergency brake. We’re also experimenting with some basic postural work to encourage him to find more softness and relaxation through his body at the walk so that we can carry this into the trot.
Field Maintenance! That’s what days off are for right?! Sorry, I tried to add captions but they weren’t playing ball! So for anyone who doesn’t want to listen to the wind 🙄 this is what I’m chatting nonsense about today… The reality of having land is that 80% your horse time is spent doing maintenance. And field maintenance is super important to me; I like to have enough space that I can ideally rotate and rest paddocks for as close to 6 months as possible. Although I do poo pick, I can’t clear it all so harrowing and resting the fields helps. I don’t spray or fertilise (much to the farmers annoyance 😆), I just pull up anything poisonous and give plenty of rest time so that the grass doesn’t become horse sick. Today I was on a mission because it had rained which meant I could FINALLY bash some fence posts in and get the rest of the boundary fencing up so that I could move the horses and rest their current paddock, as well as getting some repairs done. The winter field has been resting for 5 months now, so now the middle field will be harrowed and rested for use at the tail end of winter and spring. Cora, Ted, Ophelia, Maverick and Kevin will now graze this area and the other two ponies, Raz and N, have been banished back to pony prison, a big pen with less grass and plenty of hay, for their waistlines. Raz is NOT impressed and has been threatening to go through the fence since I moved them 🤦🏼♀️I was quite chuffed to have got all of this and a 5km run with Ellie done before lunch, but I think I’d like to stay horizontal for the rest of the day please 😆
My giant Labrador taking me for a walk!
Getting 4 year old Cora out and about in hand again to build her confidence so we can do the same under saddle.
It’s a fine balance between allowing her to go where she wants to go, investigate the things she wants to and do what she needs to do to regulate herself and then me being able to take back a little control, direct her where I would like to go, at the speed I would like to go and keep her connected to me.
She is the kind of horse that will take over and lead because she is naturally quite confident, however when she gets worried this can mean that she doesn’t always look to me/others for guidance in the first instance so that’s why I like to keep checking in with her and switch between guiding her and letting her guide me 😊
Brother and sister relays! So lovely to teach these two together and see them having some fun. Obviously improvised with some natural obstacles/props for our games 😆
Cora and Ophelia meet cows for the first time! Not sure they are convinced yet! 😆
When you arrive for your first session of the day in glorious sunshine and your client asks if you'd just like to take her horse for a hack instead! What a lovely way to start the day.
Meg is still pretty green and although we have made HUGE improvements with her and her owners confidence and skills in the school, her owner doesn't feel quite confident enough to ride her outside of the arena yet so I get the privilege of doin that.
Last month my girls had to spend some time on barn rest due to some foot related issues and in a bid to get them out of standing in water 24/7. It's easy to spend most of winter feeling like you aren't doing enough and making a list of all of the things that you should be working on with your horses, well thats certainly the case for me! (I always turn my horses away for around 4 months over winter)
BUT having 4 & 6 year old Thoroughbreds who are impeccably behaved on barn rest and who I am able to hand walk without issue in the pitch black, with one hand, reminded me that we really aren't doing that badly and that the skills they do have that serve them well in situations like this are far more important than any of the things on my list of things they 'should' know!
Boys will be boys! Love catching these moments in the herd.
Luna was 'helping' me with Coco's groundwork session the other day 🤣
